Faith vs. Works: Is it Really One or the Other?

Reading Time: 6minutes

The term “Pathwork” was coined from two obvious words: Path +
Work. Because first and foremost, this is indeed a spiritual path that will take us over some hills
and down a couple of dales. It’s not always a joyride but it can take the edge
off our difficult life experiences.

The work part involves
self-searching and self-finding, which is done by making an effort to uncover
the truth and then casting off untruths. Doing so is also no walk in the park,
but then neither is life, especially when we are mired in anything less than
the whole truth. And not knowing the truth is the main cause of all our
suffering.

But then how do we reconcile this with the church-proclaimed
doctrine that says by our faith we are saved? Is it true that faith in a
certain heavenly being who once walked this Earth as a man is sufficient to
awaken us into a new life—forever and
ever, amen—of eternal blessedness?

In fact, according to the Pathwork Guide*, it is a misunderstanding for us to think that any act—even the greatest act of love—could be enough to free us from all our inner chains. And anyone who believes this does so because it would be so very comfortable for us if that were true. But alas, this is not the case, and Jesus’ words were never meant to imply that it was.

Truth is what Sets us Free

Personal development is all about ousting untruth within
ourselves. So when we reach a certain point on our path, we are going to become
open to knowing the truth about everything, in every aspect. When that happens,
we will become capable of freeing ourselves from our prejudices and our wrong
ideas.

For it’s not enough to accept truth with only our mind. We need to
use truth as a tool for unwinding our inner distortions, which are the root
cause of all our disharmonies.

As such, it is entirely possible for a person to liberate
themselves from untruth and reach the Holy Grail, 1) even is we’ve never heard
of a guy names Jesus, and 2) even if we don’t accept Christ.

But that doesn’t change the facts of the matter. And the facts
are this: Jesus Christ sits at the tippy top of the heap of all created beings;
Christ came to Earth in the form of a man named Jesus; and his visit was the turning point in the general development
of all humanity.

So then at some point nothing will stand between us and our
understanding of this truth.

What Stands in our Way?

We all hold onto certain favorite prejudices, beliefs or opinions
we’ve picked up along the way and stashed behind our inner walls for
safekeeping. And yet each of these areas of inner resistance blocks the way to
the truth.

This may be the case regarding any variety of topics, but it may
be particularly true regarding our understandings about Christ.

One by one, we must become willing to look at our hidden beliefs
and our disharmonious emotions. This is what matters, not our willingness to
believe something we have been told is true.

The Danger of “Musts”

When we walk along this path, following the teachings laid down
by the Guide, all our distorted motives—no matter how deeply they’ve been
buried and hidden—are bound to come to the surface. This is what needs to
happen for our souls to become free and healthy.

And then one day, as a result of our inner experiences, our
confusions will clear and the truth will penetrate us.

When we reach this point, the truth about Jesus Christ will
become part of our inner experience. But it won’t come by way of some outward acceptance
of a belief or a doctrine of rules.

For some, this truth will come sooner and other truths will come
later. For others, it will go the other way around.

But to tell someone “You must accept Jesus” is about as helpful
as saying “You have to believe in God.” All this does is create harmful
reactions like guilt, rejection and rebellion. All “musts,” in fact, do nothing
more than create resistance to truth.

Where Does Faith Come in?

The key for unwinding all this is faith: Faith in God and faith
in Christ. But this is not something that can be commanded. Faith arises
naturally when our obstructions are removed.

We all, in fact, possess a massive inner storehouse of faith,
love, wisdom, and truth, which are locked away by all our deviations and our
obstructions. When we do our work on this path, these divine attributes are
automatically released to the same measure we straighten ourselves out.

This happens as a natural effect of our growth, and yet it can
never be forced upon us. This means that any time religious teachers try to
drum faith into us, they aren’t accomplishing anything other than to drive us
in the other direction.

Faith, Love & Truth are One

Love works in much the same way as faith. For we also can’t
command ourselves to love. But as we do our deep inner healing work, we will
start to understand why it is that we have no faith or no love. We will unearth
our wrong conclusions that have caused us to slam shut our inner doors to faith
and love, even though we’ve likely done so blindly.

But to get there, we will have to wade through some desolate regions
of our psyche. At first, we’ll discover that we, in fact, can’t currently find
any faith or love underneath all those layers of false-faith and fake-love.
Then, once we’ve begun to sort out our inner causes and misunderstandings,
along with our deviations and all their associated chain reactions, something
new will emerge: real faith, real love, real truth and real wisdom.

These, along with a whole host of other divine attributes, will
weave themselves throughout our being. They will become us and we will become them.

As the Pathwork Guide said: “Of course, faith is a key, just as
love is a key, as truth is a key. Each of them, in its undiluted essence,
contains all the other attributes. One is all and all is one.

The question is not whether or not you should have them. There
can be no doubt about this. The question is how you can get them, why you lack
them, what in you blocks the way.”

Doing our work, then, is the way to find truth and open the doors to love. Then our faith will unfold and all will be well, forever and ever. Amen.

*Why Was The Pathwork® Guide Anonymous?

The Guide always said that his or her name didn’t matter,
for after all, we shouldn’t believe anything unless it makes sense to us, no matter who said it. The other reason
for the Guide’s anonymity is this: The moment personality comes into play,
distortion sets in.

These distortions stem from our tendency to glorify, idolize
and alienate those we deem to be in authority. The danger further lies in
ascribing the truth to that being—whether a living person or a disincarnate
spirit, matters not—rather than seeing the truth as something universal that’s
available right here, in our own hearts. So then, in a subtle way, it’s “truth
comes from so-and-so.”

But here’s the real situation: the highest and deepest
truths are available everywhere, and are therefore accessible within us. So
truth should never be attached to a single being.

As such, all these spiritual teachings are, in essence, a
crutch. But until we can walk wholly on our own, we need them. They guide us to
find the divine truth that is hidden behind our inner distortions—our
negativity, our blindness, our weaknesses, and our destructive ways. All these
we must learn to identify and transform back to the light if we want to be
compatible with God’s spirit world. For we can’t go home if our spirits are not
crystal clear and sparkling clean.

Holy Moly spells out, at length, in just what way the life and mission of Jesus Christ added up to salvation for all of us fallen beings. Through that story we are able to understand what his contribution was, and how he built us a bridge to get back home. Get the super-short version of this story.

Never, however, was it said that the coming of Christ let us off the hook from doing our personal work or from making an effort. Indeed, just the opposite is true. Christ made our work worth the effort. Here’s one way to get started, with a free ebook.